William taylor



(No Model.)

W. TAYLOR.

NAIL.

No. 405,972. Patented June 25, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM. TAYLOR, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

NAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 405,972, dated June 25,1889.

Application filed April 9, 1888. Serial No. 270,152. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, \VILLIAM TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have madea new and useful Improvement in fails or Spikes,which will be readily understood from the following description, takenin connection with the ac-- companyin g drawings.

The invention relates to an improved wire nailthat is to say, a nailmade from continuous wire round in cross-section-and it has severalimportant ob jeetsin view. I aim to provide a nail which shall containas little as possible of the wire metal, and which shall yet be asstrong and as tenacious as are those wire nails which preserve theentire body of the said wire.

In producing the nails I commence with a wire of the proper gage, roundin section, and subject it to a series of steps of drawing, for thepurpose of removing the metal on two of the sides; but I allow theintermediate metal to remain of the same diameter as wasthe initialround wire. This changing of the form of the wire is effected by meansof drawplates so constructed and arranged that the wire is graduallymade thinner; but it is done in such way that the surface texture,generally called the skin, is not impaired. The blanks from which thenails are ultimately formed may be regarded as flattened relatively tothe initial round wire, and yet they are not made fiat by crowding anyof the metal outward from the axis of the wire, but by drawing away thesurplus metal lying at the sides of that which it is desired to retain.This results in elongating the wire, and consequently in a saving ofmetal, this saving in the case of the ordinary wires amounting to fromtwenty-five to fifty per cent. of the total length.

By preserving the skin in the way described the nail, although flat ontwo sides, retains the strength of the original wire; but reducing theshank metal in one dimension neces sarily decreases the base of unionfor the head and weakens the joint between it and the shank, the headbeing formed by crowding or upsetting a portion of the metal at the endof the shank. To overcome this tendency to weaken the nail. at thatpoint, I form it with expanding or flaring shoulders, which lie underthe head along the flat or wider sides of the shank and strongly bindthe two parts together. Therefore the nail is as strong and tenacious asare those of the earlier form,whieh are round in section and which havea diameter equal to the larger diameter of mine, notwithstanding thefact above described that I dispense with a large part of the metal ofthe round nail.

Under some circumstances .it is desirable to force the nail into thewood in a certain direction in order to prevent too great a strain uponit in the direction of the shorter diameter, and to assist in this Iform a chiseledge at the point, there being two tapering faces extendingfrom the t] at side to said edge, which latter is parallel to the longerdiameter of the shank. This cutting-edge enables me to so insert thenail that the fiat sides shall lie in any desired direction; but, asconeerns the shank portion and the head, some of: the features of theinvention can be preserved even though points of other forms beemployed. Again, to insure that the nail after being driven into placeshall not turn axially under the strain of the fibers of the wood, andin order to prevent it from being withdrawn longitudinally, I form aseries of nicks or notches along the sides of the shank near the pointor chisel-edge before referred. to.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a nail of one form embodying myimprovements. Fig. 2 is a view of the shank in section. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal section of the nail.

My improved nail or spike has a flat shank or body A, the flat sides orfaces being indicated by a a and the edges by a a. The sides or faces aa are substantially parallel to each other both longitudinally and transversely ol' the shank. The edges to a are curvilinear .in section, theiroutlines in section being substantially the arcs of a circle, the circlebeing indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4 These edges a a are alsosubstam tially parallel to each other from one end of the shank to theother. It will be seen that a nail of this configuration can be easilyand cheaply made of a tough tenacious material, such as round wire. Itpossesses the strength of a round nail, although containing much lessmetal. The flat sides a a can be formed with tough and hardenedsurfaces, so that they can be practically as strong as if there werepresent a larger mass of iron or metal 'of a more nearly crystallinestructure.

B indicates the head. This may be circular, oval, or angular. In eithercase it is necessary to strengthen the joint or place of union of thehead with the shank because of the weakening there, resulting from thereduction of the shorter dimension. This I accomplish by providingshoulders F F, preferably rounded or concave and integral with thesurface metal on the flat sides a a, and also with the adjacent metal ofthe head B. I prefer also to form shoulders F at the edges, as shown.

In the upper or outer face of the head B there is a small cavity ordepression at O to receive the end of set-punch, the latter beingthereby prevented from slipping from the head when the latter is beingdriven below the surface of a wooden object.

The point is indicated by D. It is formed with two flat sides d d,converging in a cutting-edge d. These flat faces d (Z are on the sidesof the nail, where lie, respectively, the fiat sides a a of the shank.The edges of the point are indicated by d they being substantiallyextensions of therounded edges a a of the shank. The point, when thusccnstructed, constitutes a flat cutting-wedge. It can be used to open apassage for the nailin such way that the latter can be inserel inWhatever position circumstances may require, and assists in preventingthe nail from turning axially under the pressure or strain of the Woodfibers. To further assist in this, and also to prevent the nail frommoving longitudinally, I form a series of nicks or small notches E E inthe rounded side edges to.

I am aware-of the fact that nails or spikes of various forms havebeenheretofore made with notches, corrugations, or the like, and do notbroadly 'claim such'construction as my invention.

I am also aware of the fact that nails of various forms, including cutsteel nails substantially square or round in cross-section, and my owneatrlierltriangular nails, have had shoulders at'the point of union ofthe heads with the shank; but I am not aware of the fact that prior tomy invention any one has ever produced a flat but stron g shank ofsubstantially uniform dimensions from end to end, Which, by reason ofits flatness, (that is, having its breadth considerably greater than itsthickness,) can be made much cheaper than a round, square, or triangularnail, and

then has made such a form of shank practicable by joining it to the headthrough the medium of flaring or swelling shoulders, herein shown anddescribed.

I herein use the terms flat and flattened, and mean to be understoodthereby as referring to the nail above set forth-namely, that the shankis of greater breadth than thickness, and has its larger sides or facessubstantially parallel to each other from end to end and from side toside.

The head of the nail projects laterally in the direction of the flatsides. In this respect there can be variations; but I prefer to haveitproject uniformly over the several sides and edges, as shown. This isin contradistinction to nails having heads consisting merely ofexpansions longitudinally of the shank, and which in some instancesextend slightly beyond the narrow edges, but are not flattenedtransversely of the axis of the shank, so as to project laterally overor overhang either of the flat sides.

It will be understood that I follow the plan heretofore well known forforming heads on wire n ails-nam ely, by staving up some of the metal atone end, the staving action resulting in bending or flattening fibers ofthe metal out laterally.

What I claim is 1. A nail having a shank of greater breadth thanthickness and uniform throughout in breadth and thickness, and'having ahead at one end and a point at the other end tapered from the shank to acutting-edge, substantially as described.

2. A wire nail having a flattened laterallyprojecting head, a flat shankuniform throughout in breadth and thickness and of greater breadth thanthickness, and having a point tapering from the thickness of the shankto a cutting-edge, sutstantially as set forth.

3. A nail having a flattened head which proj ects laterally over allsides of the shank, a point, and an intermediate shank which is flatfrom end to endthat is to say, uniform in breadth and thicknessthroughout, as set forth.

4:. A nail having a flattened laterally-projecting head, a wedge-shapedpoint, and an intermediate shank which is flat from end to endthat is tosay, of greater breadth than thickness and uniform throughout in breadthand thickness, and having rounded or curved edges between the broadersides or faces, substantially as set forth.

5. A nail having a head, a shank which is flat and uniform throughout inbreadth and thickness, and has round or curved edges be,- tween thewider faces, and a point having flat faces converging to a cutting-edgewhich is parallel to the said wider faces of the shank, substantially asset forth.

6. A wire nail having a head formed of laterally bent or stayed fiber ofthe wire, a shank of greater breadth than thickness and uniand thicknessand having curved or rounded form throughout in both breadth andthickedges provided with nicks or notches, snbness, and a point,substantially as described. stantially as set forth.

7. A Wire nail having a head of laterally VILLIAM TAYLOR. 5 bent orst-aved fibers of wire, a wedge-shaped VVit-nesses:

point, and a shank of greater'breadth than JOSIAH WV. ELLS, thicknessand uniform throughout in breadth J AS. G. BELL.

